By 2050, the United Nations expects the global population to reach approximately 9.5 billion people. The expectations are that millions of people will be lifted out of poverty, increasing living standards and driving demand for chemical products.

Our August issue is chock-full of annual offerings and focused content to help you and your business succeed. This issue of ASI brings you our annual Distributor Directory, as well as the ever-popular ASI Top 20 listing of the world’s leading adhesives and sealants manufacturers.

The wide use of dissimilar substrate materials driving the selection of sealants was reported in The Adhesive and Sealant Council’s “2017-2020 North American Market Report for Adhesives and Sealants with a Global Overview.”

Our annual ASI Top 20 details the leading worldwide manufacturers of adhesives and sealants. We targeted sales figures (and other details) for finished adhesives and sealants, as well as related products such as tapes, to develop the ranking.

The economic toll of the global COVID-19 pandemic is vast and ongoing. According to Bill Allmond, president of The Adhesive and Sealant Council (ASC), member companies have experienced varying degrees of difficulty, and those difficulties have likely evolved over the course of the crisis.

Within today’s diverse adhesive and sealants product segments, encompassing very different markets such as retail, architectural, industrial, and aerospace applications, all buyers and end users depend on clearly labeled containers. Since different label formats are available for a multitude of container geometries, it is helpful to understand the basics of labeling choices for future projects.

Solvent-based adhesives were traditionally attractive systems for both industrial users and consumers. They are low-cost systems that dry quickly and frequently give high performance, particularly on plastics where the solvents soften or dissolve the surface layers.

Many different factors should be explored when determining the proper package for a sealant or adhesive. Important considerations include cost, size, compatibility, appearance, ease of disposal, application, and many others—all of which can affect the decision regarding what package system is best for a particular product. Let’s look at an example of how similar factors could apply to a decision many people face on a regular basis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted supply chains all over the world, causing domestic shortages of products like produce, meat, and toilet paper on grocery store shelves. Prescription drugs, whose main ingredients come from China and are produced in India, will become in short supply because the countries are locked down and not shipping to the U.S.